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Sunday, February 26, 2012

So this weekend I finally posted my first activity to TPT. This is a learning curve for me. I am going to attempt to post a preview and link to my TPT for this Free One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish addition or subtraction Math workstation activity! Wish me luck! Please click on the link below to access my Dr. Seuss freebie!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

I have to give my husband a shout out because he has been an amazing support for me in all realms of my life, especially at work! He has been the one to help me cut and assemble my class centers, proof reading my report cards, volunteering for class events and putting together my class DVD at the end of the year. And if that was not enough, he did the most romantic thing ever! This summer he wrote this book How to Support Your Elementary School Teacher, in honor of ALL teachers everywhere. He self published it in August and has been going to schools and conventions passing on the message, opening communication and understanding between teachers, students and parents.

The book chronicles a year in the life of a teacher and highlights both the triumphs and tribulations giving parents and those outside the field of education a glimpse into the hard work that teachers do everyday. It also offers a month to month guide of suggestions of how to support the teacher in their life. I had many former parents buying this book and my principal even quoted my husband and featured him at my school's back to school night! We found a lot of teachers buying it to pass it along to their spouses (: and as a keepsake for themselves as it is a testimonial to all of us in our profession. It truly is a breath of fresh air and a positive view of teachers. Can I say that I absolutely LOVE my husband for doing this for me and all other teachers. He has been invited to speak at local school PTO meetings, conventions, bookstores as a local author and supporter of strengthening the parent-teacher-student relationship. Here are a few pictures of him in action!

The book is available on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles for $9.99 if anyone is interested. When he sells at schools he donates $2 to the school! Please check out his site at:

Thursday, February 16, 2012

So today was the day the lamb came to school. The kids were super excited and expected the lamb to be in the classroom as soon as they came off the bus! Our class was the last scheduled class because the other kindergarten classes had morning specials. We did so many things revolving around the sheep theme. We sang our nursery rhymes such as Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Bo-Peep and Baa Baa Black Sheep that we were practicing in our poetry binders all week. We created a KWL chart of what we knew about sheep already and what we wondered about, so that we could ask the "lamb lady" our questions. They came up with good ones such as "Does it hurt when the fur comes off the sheep?", "Does a sheep hibernate?" and my favorite of the day "What's the difference between girl (female) sheep and boy (male) sheep?"

We talked about the fact that they needed to be super quiet and they had to turn their reaction levels down in case the sheep made any noise or did anything (going to the bathroom), this was part of life and we would just have to deal with it in a mature way. We did not want to scare the baby lamb and we would treat it as we would a baby human. So finally, the lamb came into our class and the students were enamored! They were great, asking their questions and staying quiet for having 50 kids (3 classes) in at once. Each student got a chance to pet the lamb and my grade partner even got to hold it while the lady prepared to leave. I was soo jealous! We had a steady wave of teachers in other grade levels rushing down from their classes to see the lamb at school......we even invited both vice principals (our principal was out).

Our VP taking a closer look at the lamb.....and the student looking up at him was
happy that he made it because he reminded the VP to come in morning!

Some of our students petting the lamb!

That is me, Mrs. M getting to pet the lamb!
He lifted his head for me and we had a moment, I swear!

My inclusion room partner, Mrs. Bunch getting to hold the cutie!
Look at how they are both posing...

The kindergartners wrote about their favorite part of our lamb visit. We charted what facts we learned from the "lamb lady" and did some Lovely Lamb Addition. Earlier in the week, we read the series Sheep in a Jeep, Sheep in a Ship and Sheep out to Eat by Nancy Shaw. So I was inspired to create different math workmats to go with the books for each table group. I was worried that the kids would get confused with the variety of choices but they rose to the challenge! We had Soooo much fun! We will definitely like to have the "lamb lady" come back next year. It was a rewarding experience for all.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

We had pajama day today and I was so comfy in my leopard print jammies. The kids were very excited from the moment they walked in the class and I had to keep them in check periodically. I was exhausted by snack time because we were trying to fit in our 100th day projects and Valentine's Day projects, not to mention double specials today. It would have been less stressful had I been at school the day before. Who knew that teachers would sometimes prefer NOT to have preps! Well somehow we managed and the projects turned out well! My husband also sent flowers to work and the kids loved them as much as I did. Love the hubby for his thoughtfulness! A major shout out to him yesterday for helping me assemble all the valentine's favors for the kiddies!

Monday, February 13, 2012

So I went to the district meeting and returned to my classroom because I had another 45 minute faculty meeting.....met with my grade partner and gathered all the stuff to make my class loot bags. We had some extra valentine's day cups that a parent had sent in last year, the kindies had juice boxes for our celebration so we never used them. The plan was to put all the stuff we bought for the kids in there and put the cup of stuff in the cello bags. We had some chocolate, rice krispie squares, granola bars, fruit snacks, kisses & a lollipop. Then I remembered this great idea I saw on pinterest with a lollipop lily.

I printed those on colored paper, put a cute message "We love how much you've grown!" and voila there are our Valentine's Day favors for our students. They looked like those potted mums packaging and all! I think the middle would look better with the blow pop kind of lollipop but it is still stinking cute! I can't wait for each child to get their bloom tomorrow!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Valentine's Day and 100th Day, on one day! Trying to get fancy, learning how to change the layout of my blog. How do they add all those cutsie titles and stuff? I am the web curator of my school's website but that's easy compared to this! Help...so technically challenged. How do I customize? Anyways on the school realm. This week is going to be great. Tuesday is the 100th day of school, a huge deal for kinders! We will make our projects, complete a variety of literacy and mathematics activities. If that was not enough, it is also Valentine's day....a double whammy! We are going to be wearing our PJ's all day! I have leopard print fuzzy ones this year. Tomorrow I'll be at our district math committee meeting and while I know we're doing important business, I rather be in class with my kiddos. To top it all off, we are going to have a lamb visit the Kindergarten classes on Thursday. What a crazy week right?

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Welcome to my new blog called Ms. M's Kinderverse!
I have decided to take the leap to join my global community of teachers, to share and gather ideas to help the students in our classes. I can't wait to start this journey!